Si bémol et fa dièse

This is a musical remake of the 1940 classic "Ball of Fire". The plot is almost the same, a gangster's moll crashes the residence of a bunch of professors who are writing an encyclopedia, and falls in love the the youngest one. This time they're a musical encyclopedia rather than a generalized one, which allows for a lot of musical numbers, some of them pretty enjoyable. It's a lively, superficial, colorful musical with some laughs to it, if you haven't seen "Ball of Fire" you'll probably have quite a good time.

But the film and especially the performances are vastly inferior to the original. Virginia Mayo is the same as she always was in musical comedies, a sort of generic leading lady/straight man. Danny Kaye is limited by his role, he's playing an uptight nerd and can't use his fabulous manic energy at all for most of the film (Gary Cooper was absolutely hilarious as the uptight nerd in the original, he was one good actor). The supporting performances are all pretty cartoonish, none stand out, but there are appearances by Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, and Lionel Hampton which you might want to catch.

Gregg Toland, the great director of photography of CITIZEN KANE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS and THE GRAPES OF WRATH was said to be the highest paid D.P. in America, as well as perhaps the finest B&W lighting cameraman the major Hollywood studio system ever produced. Under long- term contract to producer Sam Goldwyn, he died at the early age of forty-four in 1948, the same year this film was made for his boss. A SONG IS BORN is one of his few Technicolor films. For a man of visual genius, the photography here is surprisingly routine—flatly lit and uninspired compared to the more adventurous color work being done about the same time by Harold Rosson and Joe Rutenberg at the MGM studios. Perhaps Toland was too ill at the time to pay much attention to this project, no more motivated to do his best than was the film's director, the usually brilliant Howard Hawks who had directed BALL OF FIRE, an earlier version of the same story. The film is also flawed by garish makeup for the gorgeous Virginia Mayo. On the plus side, jazz lovers get a few brief moments of pleasure: a rare chance to hear America's prime band leaders of the time—Armstrong, Dorsey, Goodman, Hampton, Louis Armstrong—jamming together with sidemen Mel Powell and Louie Bellson. (Fletcher Henderson probably did the band arrangements) There is absolutely no comparison between this insipidly silly remake and the charming earlier B&W version which starred the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck as the bad/good girl and Gary Cooper in the role Danny Kaye assays with only moderate success.

Billy Wilder's story 'From A-Z' which had already been filmed in 1941 as the excellent 'Ball of Fire' with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck gets a musical makeover in this 1948 remake of a group of professors writing an Encyclopedia of music and a gangster's moll hiding out in their foundation.

Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo and Steve Cochran are reunited yet again after appearing together in 1945's 'Wonder Man' and 1946's 'The Kid from Brooklyn' and this was the fourth and final pairing of Kaye and Mayo, (the other being 1947's 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). However, Kaye is no Gary Cooper, Mayo is no Barbara Stanwyck and Cochran is no Dana Andrews.

The main screenplay for the most part remains unaltered and is basically a word for word copy, except of course in this movie the professors are writing a musical Encyclopedia and not one on general knowledge so these aspects have been changed to fit this change.

Sadly this version lacks the spark that made the original so great and instead of a ball of fire, we get a hot water bottle at best.

However, we are treated to some great 1940's swing, big band and Jazz talent in the form of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Mel Powell, Charlie Barnet and Lionel Hampton, all masters of their craft and it's these musical interludes that are the ONLY reasons to watch this instead of the 1941 version as they are brilliant and fun to watch and will have your toes a'tappin.

Mayo's singing voice was dubbed by the ultra talented, yet sadly uncredited Jeni Sullavan and some Sullavan's other vocal recordings are well worth checking out.

However, Kaye doesn't have a single song in the movie, which is sad given that comedy songs and zany musical numbers were his main stock in trade. This was because he had recently split from his wife Sylvia Fine who was also the composer of all of his songs and she refused to write write for him and he didn't want anyone else composing for him. Thankfully, the split was only temporary and they reconciled soon after.

Howard Hawks who had directed the original returns to direct here, but he found this version difficult and disliked the finish product. Mary Field is the only returning performer from 'Ball of Fire' as the socialite Miss Totten , the same role she had played seven years before.

Not a bad film, but If you're in it for the plot and plot alone, watch the original. However, if you have a penchant for 1940's jazz and swing music, then give this one a try, those parts will give you a thrill at least even if nothing else does.

Enjoy!

Howard Hawks remake of his 1941 comedy "Ball of Fire" was a vehicle for Danny Kaye, who was popular at the time. This film is based on a story by Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe, which had also been the basis of the original film. The movie was shot in Technicolor, something that must have been one of the stipulations of its star, Danny Kaye.

By changing the original premise from learning about slang to learning about the new popular rhythms that had come out during the thirties and forties, the creators thought they were updating the basic idea, and they succeed, at times. The best thing in this film is the array of talent we see. Some of the giants in popular music of that time, are seen at their best in musical numbers that are clever and that reminds the viewer how classic compositions could relate to the new expressions.

The central story is just a pretext to present Danny Kaye, who is the nerdy professor Frisbee, and his co-star, Virginia Mayo, a night club singer, Honey Swanson. Professor Frisbee gets in hot water because unknown to him, Honey is involved with a gangster, Tony Crow, who doesn't want to let go of his beautiful girlfriend. Besides the two stars, Steve Cochran puts in an appearance as Tony.

Some of the best known popular musicians of that era are seen doing wonderful music together. Tommy Dorsey, Mel Powell, Buck and Bubbles, Charlie Barnett, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, and Benny Goodman, who plays one of the professors.

The film, while not as original as its model, is worth watching for the music alone. Music fans are in for a treat thanks to Mr. Hawks.

I have this on a vhs and watch it from time to time. Apart from the musical sequences, the story pleases me because Danny Kaye is taken for an idiot by the young lady but in the end she falls in love with him ! It is a pleasure to watch the way her attitude changes. There are not many films with this kind of story, so when I see one I like to treasure it ! In addition to this the musical sequences are memorable with well-known stars. Hopefully they will put it onto Dvd but unfortunately the DVD industry seems to have forgotten about Danny Kaye !